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CrichStand

CrichStand

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I don't think Nintendo are resting on their laurels but they are stretching themselves very thin. This is obvious when you read the Iwata interviews as team members come off a 3DS project to work on a Wii U one, leaving the 3DS one unfinished or in a state of flux. You can even tell this with their games, we've had a bunch of Wii U launch games, to the detriment of 3DS software and now we won't have anything for quite some time. Nintendo really need more teams to get more content created and out there as they are not balancing both a handheld and a console very well. Before it was easy for them, the handhelds were either 2D or basic 3D machines so didn't require large teams but the 3DS is almost up there with Wii quality graphics so requires Wii sized teams.

This is what i was saying earlier in the thread! They hardly had a deluge of first party titles when they were working on Wii and DS. Now they're working with the 3DS and the powerful Wii U with its HD graphics, making development even more complex, expensive and time consuming. Look how long SS took. Then imagine the Wii U equivalent. Then factor in people will be expecting it to be, at the very least, as advanced as stuff we've already become used to on the PS3/360. If Pikmin 3 has been delayed just like Luigi 2, it would back up that they're currently struggling.

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Ketchup

Ketchup

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You might have a point there. Any specific examples though?

The most obvious to me is Wii Xmas 2010. We got Mario Galaxy 2, Sin and Punishment, Wii Party, Kirbys Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns and a bunch more from Nintendo.

2011 We got Wii Play Motion (a nothing game essentially) Kirbys Return to dreamland and the legend of Zelda. 2012 the Wii has nothing of note from Nintendo directly.

During this time the 3DS was launching and got loads of games, new Mario every 3 minutes from 3D land, to Mario Kart to 2D Mario along with a bunch more. But now the Wii U is here where are the 3DS games from Nintendo? Paper Mario and thats the only one i can think of as a big Nintendo game for xmas.

The 3DS is getting quite a few games in March though whilst the Wii U is being left out. I guess a good specific example would be Retro. They now only ever make one single game at a time and with that comes periods of waits, before Metroid they had about 5 projects on the go at once and whilst it could be argued that Nintendo cancelling those to focus on Metroid meant it was a huge success it also shows Nintendo doesn't like to develop many games.

I know its not very specific but i think the Nintendo Direct videos are quite telling. Just the way they are filmed and edited. Its all done in house which is very cute and obviously cheap but at the same time you feel they do it either because they are cheap or because they don't have the resources to do something bigger or better. I've worked at small companies doing filming on a shoestring budget, if it wasn't for me pushing my skills or the will to do it, it wouldn't happen as there was certainly no money to get professionals in and thats what these Nintendo Direct videos feel like at times. Especially when we watch Iwata search for apples for SIX whole minutes.

Or lets take Super Smash Bros, an outside team are working on that but development only started when it was announced at E3. To get super specific this quote is what i was originally thinking of:

http://iwataasks.nin...net-browser/0/0

Iwata

Sasaki-san, you were in charge of the Internet Browser for the Nintendo 3DS system, right?

Sasaki

That's right. I was involved with the Nintendo 3DS first, and then halfway through I began working on both simultaneously.

I understand sometimes its good to share resources, but this is what Nintendo does a lot and why i feel they stretch themselves to breaking point at times. Mario Kart had Retro studios making some of the tracks for example. Surely it'd be better to have full proper teams instead of sharing staff and getting them to do twice as much work.

Sorry all the above is a bit of a mess of random thoughts but Nintendo are juggling a lot of balls at the moment and whilst in the past having a GBA Handheld and a Gamecube was doable, having a 3DS and a Wii U, plus a Wii console all requiring games is a lot more to handle all at once.

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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

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It may well be business strategy too. Of course as fanatical gamers, we want at least 3 AAA titles for our 3DS and 4-5 for our new Wii U. But why would Nintendo do it? Most people will probably buy only one or two games anyway. So it's better for them to drip feed games at opportune moments and then watch the cash come in when game-starved Nintendo fans buy one copy of each release instead of one copy from several releases. Being spoilt for choice is good for consumers, but not for manufacturers. In the meanwhile, Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank by still shifting thousands of full price copies of the original New Super Mario Bros Wii this Christmas.

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gone fishin

gone fishin

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Sorry all the above is a bit of a mess of random thoughts but Nintendo are juggling a lot of balls at the moment and whilst in the past having a GBA Handheld and a Gamecube was doable, having a 3DS and a Wii U, plus a Wii console all requiring games is a lot more to handle all at once.

I've been saying this for a while- now that Nintendo's handheld is the equivalent of a Gamecube- plus having a home console is way too much for Nintendo to be able to consistently produce high quality games for both platforms.

There seems to be a real blurring of the two platforms- previously, the handheld platform had games that were very much focused on handheld gaming. Games like New Super Mario Brothers, Animal Crossing - or even the new Luigi's Mansion are all games that should have been on a home platform.

Plus they've got all of their 2nd parties that don't actually seem to produce much- Retro has produced 2 games since 2006. What has Camelot done in the past 5 years? Or even their internal teams aren't exactly churning out games left, right and centre. NST has produced less than half a dozen games since 2006 (even then they've mostly been sequels to Mario V Donkey Kong- where's the next 1080??!!?) Intelligent Systems have released three full titles for the Wii- two Fire Emblem games and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.

That's not exactly prolific- yeah, they're always about the quality. But even then, the quality seems to be dropping (the recent New Super Mario Bros games have been criticised for their pretty average scores).

It maybe explains why Nintendo are so keen to get 3rd party support for the WiiU- the recent output on the Wii clearly shows that Nintendo can't keep on churning out games (like in the days of the N64) to keep a platform afloat by themselves.

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rexel1

rexel1

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Really liking the machine.

My only grumbles so far are:

1. Overscan problem - seems a common probably with Nintendo not allowing for this, means I'm missing the edge of the screen all around. Quite annoying and I'm hoping they fix it in a firmware update.

2. Noisy drive - The machine itself when on is very quiet, but when a disk is put it the drive really ramps up. It's making me reconsider to rebuy the games as download versions only.

3. Slow OS - A pain when you want to flick between options

Otherwise it's great, think I've sold it to two mates after a quick NintendoLand session

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Dandy_Sephy

Dandy_Sephy

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1. Overscan problem - seems a common probably with Nintendo not allowing for this, means I'm missing the edge of the screen all around. Quite annoying and I'm hoping they fix it in a firmware update.

Glad its not just me! I've noticed the tv screen on NSMB is different to the gamepad in terms of width (image, not dimensions :P ).

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hub2

hub2

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Shigeru Miyamoto has been replaced as EAD General Manager and is supposedly heading up a team which will focus on 'smaller' games with potentially new IP.

I'd guess, if I was a betting man, that Nintendo are investing in and are going to try smaller 'indie-esque' games for digital distribution on 3DS/WiiU to supplement the big hitters. I also think they realise they hit gold with the Wii and they are unlikely to have the same success. If anything, my feeling is that the WiiU might be the GameCube2 for them. (Not that I mind The GC was awesome.)

So, I rather think Nintendo are not being arrogant at all, I think they are retreating and becoming more conservative while attempting to consolidate around what they think is their core audience - the family.

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iris

iris

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You say that but apparently more people in the US watched Netflix through the Wii than anything else. That's pretty amazing. Where Sony and MS have actively pursued the media centre market i would not be surprised if it's actually Nintendo that take over the living room. And that would be sort of funny. Forget launch buzz or hype, it means nothing in the long run.

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Massive Invisible Dog

Massive Invisible Dog

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You say that but apparently more people in the US watched Netflix through the Wii than anything else. That's pretty amazing. Where Sony and MS have actively pursued the media centre market i would not be surprised if it's actually Nintendo that take over the living room. And that would be sort of funny. Forget launch buzz or hype, it means nothing in the long run.

Nope.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/04/ps3-is-1-for-netflix-streaming-in-the-living-room/

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iris

iris

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Yeah, but i clearly meant last year when 25% of users used the Wii. And that was with having the least media server console imaginable. Now, with a these TV things in the pipeline I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo Does What The Others Want To.

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Captain Kelsten

Captain Kelsten

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It's funny, isn't it? I've noticed recently - say, the last 4-5 months - that I really can't be arsed buying disc based games anymore, unless they're dramatically cheaper. It's not so much the issue of changing the discs per se; but more the convenience of being able to flick between games at will. It's something I love about my vita, actually, for the ease of portable play.

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simms

simms

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Call me mad but I'm buying all my games digitally were possible. Ive traded in some 360 games and I've got enough wii point cards to buy nsmb u and sonic all star racing from the eshop and have blops2 disc as its not available on the eshop.

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